Vacuum bakeout of flight hardware
ECSS-Q-ST-70-01
Proper vacuum bakeout of flight hardware is increasingly important to mission success: heating a component under vacuum drives off adsorbed water and volatile species before they can outgas onto optics, detectors or cold surfaces in orbit. TS-Space Systems provides monitored vacuum bakeout in the UK, with the instrumentation to prove — rather than assume — when a bakeout is complete.
We have extensive experience in running monitored vacuum bakeout of test and flight hardware to ECSS-Q-ST-70-01 with our chambers having extensive project heritage including ESA missions like Solar Orbiter and JUICE.
Our chambers are fitted with a temperature-controlled quartz crystal monitor (TCQCM) and a cold plate, so outgassing is tracked in real time and bakeout completion is judged against ESA guidelines and ECSS-Q-ST-70-01. QCM frequency linearity can be processed live to give you up-to-the-moment data as to how your bakeout is progressing
We have multiple residual gas analyser (RGA) units which can be added to identify the species evolving during the bake and our in-house FTIR facility allows for molecular contamination witness (MOC) plates to be run with your bakeout and analysed rapidly upon completion of your bakeout.
Facility
Oil-free high vacuum (magnetically levitated turbo, dry scroll backing) — no pump-oil re-deposition during the bake.
HEPA-filtered air room for loading flight and contamination-sensitive hardware.
TCQCM and cold plate for bakeout monitoring; RGA available for species identification.
Live QCM Linearity analysis provided throughout the bakeout to keep you informed.
In-house FTIR for analysing any condensed species on witness plates to ECSS-Q-ST-70-05C.
Remote monitoring and automatic over-temperature shutdown for safe long and overnight bakes.
For materials and hardware that call for it, our chambers can be configured with shrouds and thermal plates for thermal bakeout up to +500 °C with PID-controlled heating and full temperature logging.
Why use TS-Space for your vacuum bakeout?
Evidence, not assumption — TCQCM-based completion judged to ESA guidance, with the record to prove it.
Clean by design — oil-free pumping and HEPA loading minimise contamination pathways for your hardware.
Flexible facility — we design, build and operate our own chambers, so bakeout profiles and fixturing can be adapted to your hardware.
Contamination follow-through — using the chamber’s QCM, RGA and our in-house FTIR facility and RGA you will receive comprehensive data on any anomalous condensates
Industry leading temperatures - We can facilitate bakeouts up to +500°C which other test houses struggle to reach
Easy to work with. With decades of experience we understand that testing can be stressful enough as it is. We don’t load you with onerous forms and paperwork, we just want to help you get the job done and on time.
“TS Space Sytems is a very competent and professional company. They always provided us with results and advised us on the best technical solutions to achieve our testing needs. They always looked forward to improve and develop processes to meet our stringent requirements.”
